System and method for optimized appliance control

ABSTRACT

A device receives a request from a controlling device, such as a remote control, smart phone, or the like, where the request is intended to have one or more target devices perform one or more functional operations. The device responds to the request by applying the optimum methodology to propagate one or more commands to each intended target appliance to cause each intended target appliance to perform the intended one or more functional operations.

RELATED APPLICATION INFORMATION

This application claims the benefit of and is a continuation of U.S.application Ser. No. 13/657,176, filed on Oct. 22, 2012, whichapplication claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No.61/552,857, filed Oct. 28, 2011, and U.S. Provisional Application No.61/680,876, filed Aug. 8, 2012, the disclosures of which areincorporated herein by reference in their entirety.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/621,277, filed on Nov. 18, 2009 and entitled “System and Method forReconfiguration of an Entertainment System Controlling Device,” which inturn is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/569,121 (now U.S. Pat. No. 8,243,207), filed on Sep. 29, 2009 andentitled “System and Method for Activity Based Configuration of anEntertainment System,” the disclosures of which are incorporated hereinby reference in their entirety.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/198,072, filed on Aug. 4, 2011 and entitled “System and Method forConfiguring the Remote Control Functionality of a Portable Device,” thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

This application is also related to U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/240,604, filed on Sep. 22, 2011 and entitled “System and Method forConfiguring Controlling Device Functionality,” the disclosure of whichis incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND

Controlling devices, for example remote controls, for use in issuingcommands to entertainment and other appliances, and the features andfunctionality provided by such controlling devices are well known in theart. In order to facilitate such functionality, various communicationprotocols, command formats, and interface methods have been implementedby appliance manufacturers to enable operational control ofentertainment and other appliances, also as well known in the art. Inparticular, the recent proliferation of wireless and wired communicationand/or digital interconnection methods such as WiFi, Bluetooth, HDMI,etc., amongst and between appliances has resulted in a correspondingproliferation of such communication protocols and command formats. Whilemany of these newer methods may offer improved performance and/orreliability when compared to previous control protocols, appliancemanufacturer adoption of such newer methods remains inconsistent andfragmented. This, together with the large installed base of priorgeneration appliances, may cause confusion, mis-operation, or otherproblems when a user or manufacturer of a controlling device, such as aremote control, attempts to take advantage of the enhanced features andfunctionalities of these new control methods.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to enhanced methods for appliancecontrol via use of a controlling device, such as a remote control, smartphone, tablet computer, etc., and in particular to methods for takingadvantage of improved appliance control communication methods and/orcommand formats in a reliable manner which is largely transparent to auser and/or seamlessly integrated with legacy appliance controltechnology.

To this end, the instant invention comprises a modular hardware andsoftware solution, hereafter referred to as a Universal Control Engine(UCE), which is adapted to provide device control across a variety ofavailable control methodologies and communication media, such as forexample various infrared (IR) remote control protocols; ConsumerElectronic Control (CEC) as may be implemented over a wired HDMIconnection; internet protocol (IP), wired or wireless; RF4CE wireless;Bluetooth (BT) wireless personal area network(s); UPnP protocolutilizing wired USB connections; or any other available standard orproprietary appliance command methodology. Since each individual controlparadigm may have its own strengths and weaknesses, the UCE may beadapted to combine various control methods in order to realize the bestcontrol option for each individual command for each individual device.

The UCE itself may be adapted to receive commands from a controllingdevice, for example a conventional remote control or a remote controlapp resident on a smart device such as a phone or tablet, etc.,utilizing any convenient protocol and command structure (IR, RF4CE, BT,proprietary RF, etc.) As will become apparent, the controlling devicemay range from a very simple unidirectional IR device to a fullyfunctional WiFi enabled smart phone or the like. The UCE may receivecommand requests from such a controlling device and apply the optimummethodology to propagate the command function(s) to each intended targetappliance, such as for example a TV, AV receiver, DVD player, etc. Inthis manner the UCE may enable a single controlling device to commandthe operation of all appliances in a home theater system whilecoordinating available methods of controlling each particular appliancein order to select the best and most reliable method for issuing eachcommand to each given device. By way of example without limitation, aUCE may utilize IR commands to power on an AV receiver appliance whileCEC commands or another method may be used to select inputs or powerdown the same AV receiver appliance; or CEC commands may be used topower on and select inputs on a TV appliance while IR commands may beused to control the volume on the same TV appliance.

As will become apparent, a UCE may comprise modular hardware andsoftware which may be embodied in a standalone device suitable for usein an existing home theater equipment configuration, or may beincorporated into any one of the appliances such as a STB, TV, AVreceiver, HDMI switch etc. Further, when incorporated into an appliance,UCE functionality may be provisioned as a separate hardware module ormay be incorporated together with other hardware functionality, e.g., aspart of an HDMI interface IC or chip set, etc.

A better understanding of the objects, advantages, features, propertiesand relationships of the invention will be obtained from the followingdetailed description and accompanying drawings which set forthillustrative embodiments and which are indicative of the various ways inwhich the principles of the invention may be employed.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a better understanding of the various aspects of the invention,reference may be had to preferred embodiments shown in the attacheddrawings in which:

FIGS. 1 and 2 illustrate exemplary systems in which a standalone UECdevice may be utilized to command operation of several appliances;

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate exemplary systems in which UEC functionalitymay be incorporated into an appliance which is part of a homeentertainment system;

FIG. 5 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary UEC device;

FIG. 6 illustrates a graphical representation of an exemplary UCE-basedcontrol environment;

FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary preferred command matrix for use in aUCE-based control environment, for example as illustrated in FIG. 6;

FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an exemplary smart device whichmay support a remote control app and a setup method for use inconfiguring a UCE;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary series of steps which may be performedin order to set up and configure an exemplary UCE;

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary series of steps which may be performedin order to define to a UCE an appliance configuration which correspondsto a user activity;

FIG. 11 illustrates exemplary activity configuration matrices such asmay be defined during the steps of FIG. 10;

FIG. 12 illustrates an exemplary current appliance state matrix whichmay be maintained by a UCE for use in determining the commands necessaryto invoke one of the states defined by the matrix of FIG. 11;

FIG. 13 illustrates an exemplary series of steps which may be performedby a UCE in issuing a function command to an appliance; and

FIG. 14 illustrates an exemplary series of steps which may be performedby a UCE in establishing appliance states matching a desired activitydefined in one of the matrices of FIG. 11.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

With reference to FIG. 1, there is illustrated an exemplary system inwhich a UCE device 100 may be used to issue commands to control variouscontrollable appliances, such as a television 106, a cable set top boxcombined with a digital video recorder (“STB/DVR”) 110, a DVD player108, and an AV receiver 120. While illustrated in the context of atelevision 106, STB/DVR 110, a DVD player 108, and an AV receiver 120,it is to be understood that controllable appliances may include, butneed not be limited to, televisions, VCRs, DVRs, DVD players, cable orsatellite converter set-top boxes (“STBs”), amplifiers, CD players, gameconsoles, home lighting, drapery, fans, HVAC systems, thermostats,personal computers, etc. In the illustrative example of FIG. 1,appliance commands may be issued by UCE 100 in response to infrared(“IR”) request signals 116 received from a remote control device 102,radio frequency (“RF”) request signals 118 received from an app 124resident on a smart device 104, or any other device from which UCE 100may be adapted to receive requests, using any appropriate communicationmethod. As illustrated, transmission of the requested appliance commandsfrom the UCE to appliances 106,108,112,120 may take the form of wirelessIR signals 114 or CEC commands issued over a wired HDMI interface 112,as appropriate to the capabilities of the particular appliance to whicheach command may be directed. In particular, in the exemplary systemillustrated, AV receiver 120 may not support HDMI inputs, beingconnected to audio source appliances 108,110 via, for example S/PDIFinterfaces 122. Accordingly UCE 100 may be constrained to transmit allcommands destined for AV receiver 120 exclusively as IR signals, whilecommands destined for the other appliances 106 through 110 may take theform of either CEC or IR signals as appropriate for each command. By wayof example without limitation, certain TV manufacturers may elect not tosupport volume adjustment via CEC. If the illustrative TV 106 is of suchmanufacture, UCE 100 may relay volume adjustment requests to TV 106 asIR signals 114, while other requests such as power on/off or inputselections may be relayed in the form of CEC commands over HDMIconnection 112.

It will however be appreciated that while illustrated in the context ofIR, RF, and wired CEC signal transmissions, in general, transmissions toand from UCE device 100 may take the form of any convenient IR, RF,hardwired, point-to-point, or networked protocol, as necessary for aparticular embodiment. Further, while wireless communications 116, 118,etc., between exemplary devices are illustrated herein as direct links,it should be appreciated that in some instances such communication maytake place via a local area network or personal area network, and assuch may involve various intermediary devices such as routers, bridges,access points, etc. Since these items are not necessary for anunderstanding of the instant invention, they are omitted from this andsubsequent Figures for the sake of clarity.

Since smart device remote control apps such as that contemplated in theillustrative device 104 are well known, for the sake of brevity theoperation, features, and functions thereof will not be described indetail herein. Nevertheless, if a more complete understanding of thenature of such apps is desired, the interested reader may turn to, forexample, the before mentioned U.S. patent application Ser. No.12/406,601 or U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/329,940, entitled“Graphical User Interface and Data Transfer Methods in a ControllingDevice,” both of common ownership and incorporated herein by referencein their entirety.

Turning now to FIG. 2, in a further illustrative embodiment, UCE 100 mayreceive wireless request signals from a remote control 200 and/or an appresident on a tablet computer 202. As before, command transmissions toappliances 106,108,110 may take the form of wired CEC commands orwireless IR commands. However, in this example remote control 200 may bein bi-directional communication 208 with UCE 100 and accordingly the UCEmay delegate the transmission of IR commands 210 to the remote controldevice 200, i.e., use remote control 200 as a relay device for thosecommands determined to be best executed via IR transmissions. As alsogenerally illustrated in FIG. 2, a setup app 214 executing on a smartdevice such as tablet computer 202 may be utilized in conjunction withan Internet (212,204) accessible server 206 and associated database 207to initially configure UCE 100 for operation with the specific group ofappliances to be controlled, i.e., to communicate to UCE 100 a matchingcommand code set and capability profile for each particular appliance tobe controlled, for example based on type, manufacture, model number,etc., as will be described in greater detail hereafter.

With reference to FIG. 3, in a yet further illustrative embodiment UCEfunctionality 100′ may be embedded in an appliance, for example STB/DVR310. In this example, remote control 102 and/or smart device 104 maytransmit wireless request signals directly to STB/DVR 310 for action bythe built-in UCE function 100′, which actions may, as before, compriseCEC command transmissions via HDMI connection 112 or IR commandtransmissions 114, originating in this instance from an IR blasterprovisioned to the STB/DVR appliance 310. In this configuration, a setup application resident in STB/DVR 310 may be utilized to configure UEC100′, using for example an Internet connection 304 accessible through acable modem and/or cable distribution system headend.

In the further illustrative embodiment of FIG. 4, UCE functionality 100′may be embedded in an AV receiver 420 which may serve as an HDMI switchbetween various content sources such as a STB/DVR 110 or a DVD player108 and a rendering device such as TV 106. In addition to HDMI inputs,AV receiver 420 may also support various other input formats, forexample analog inputs such as the illustrative 404 from CD player 408;composite or component video; S/PDIF coaxial or fiberoptic; etc. In thisembodiment, request signals 406 may be directed to AV receiver 420, forexample from remote control 402, for action by UCE function 100′. Asbefore, resulting appliance commands may be transmitted using CECsignals transmitted over HDMI connections 112, or via IR signals 114transmitted from an associated IR blaster. As appropriate for aparticular embodiment, initial configuration of UCE 100′ to match theequipment to be controlled may be performed by an Internet-connected appresident in AV receiver 420, or by an app resident in tablet computer202 or other smart device, as mentioned previously in conjunction withFIG. 2.

As will be appreciated, various other configurations are also possiblewithout departing from the underlying UCE concept, for example UCEfunction 100′ may be incorporated into an Internet-capable TV, an HDMIswitch, a game console, etc.; appliance command set and capabilitydatabase 207 may be located at a cable system headend, may be storedlocally (in all or in part), which local storage may take the form ofinternal memory within the UCE itself or in an appliance such as a TV,STB or AV receiver, or may take the form of a memory stick or the likeattachable to a smart device or appliance; etc.

With reference to FIG. 5, an exemplary UCE device 100 (whether standalone or an appliance supporting UCE functionality) may include, asneeded for a particular application, a processor 500 coupled to a memory502 which memory may comprise a combination of ROM memory, RAM memory,and/or non-volatile read/write memory and may take the form of a chip, ahard disk, a magnetic disk, an optical disk, a memory stick, etc., orany combination thereof. It will also be appreciated that some or all ofthe illustrated memory may be physically incorporated within the same ICchip as the processor 500 (a so called “microcontroller”) and, as such,it is shown separately in FIG. 5 only for the sake of clarity. Interfacehardware provisioned as part of the exemplary UCE platform may includeIR receiver circuitry 504 and IR transmitter circuitry 506; an HDMIinterface 508; a WiFi transceiver and interface 510; an Ethernetinterface 512; and any other wired or wireless I/O interface(s) 514 asappropriate for a particular embodiment, by way of example withoutlimitation Bluetooth, RF4CE, USB, Zigbee, Zensys, X10/Insteon, HomePlug,HomePNA, etc. The electronic components comprising the exemplary UCEdevice 100 may be powered by an external power source 516. In the caseof a standalone UCE device such as illustrated in FIG. 1 or 2, this maycomprise for example a compact AC adapter “wall wart,” while integratedUCE devices such as illustrated in FIG. 3 or 4 may draw operating powerfrom the appliance into which they are integrated. It will also beappreciated that in the latter case, in certain embodiments processor500 and/or memory 502 and/or certain portions of interface hardwareitems 504 through 514 may be shared with other functionalities of thehost appliance.

As will be understood by those skilled in the art, some or all of thememory 502 may include executable instructions that are intended to beexecuted by the processor 500 to control the operation of the UCE device100 (collectively, the UCE programming) as well as data which serves todefine the necessary control protocols and command values for use intransmitting command signals to controllable appliances (collectively,the command data). In this manner, the processor 500 may be programmedto control the various electronic components within the exemplary UCEdevice 100, e.g., to monitor the communication means 504,510 forincoming request messages from controlling devices, to cause thetransmission of appliance command signals, etc. To cause the UCE device100 to perform an action, the UCE device 100 may be adapted to beresponsive to events, such as a received request message from remotecontrol 102 or smart device 104, changes in connected appliance statusreported over HDMI interface 508, WiFi interface 510, or Ethernetinterface 512, etc. In response to an event, appropriate instructionswithin the UCE programming may be executed. For example, when a commandrequest is received from a smart phone 104, the UCE device 100 mayretrieve from the command data stored in memory 502 a preferred commandtransmission medium (e.g., IR, CEC over HDMI, IP over WiFi, etc.) and acorresponding command value and control protocol to be used intransmitting that command to an intended target appliance, e.g., TV 106,in a format recognizable by that appliance to thereby control one ormore functional operations of that appliance. By way of further example,the status of connected appliances, e.g., powered or not powered,currently selected input, playing or paused, etc., as may be discernedfrom interfaces 508 through 514, may be monitored and/or tabulated bythe UCE programming in order to facilitate adjustment of appliancesettings to match user-defined activity profiles, e.g. “Watch TV”, “Viewa movie”, etc.

An overview of an exemplary UCE control environment is presented in FIG.6. The UCE programming of an exemplary UCE device 100 may comprise auniversal control engine core 650 together with a series of scalablesoftware modules 652 through 660, each module supporting a particularappliance command protocol or method and provisioned as appropriate fora particular embodiment. By way of example, the illustrative embodimentof FIG. 6 may include an internet protocol (IP) module 652, a CEC overHDMI module 654, a Bluetooth module 656, an IR module 660, and othermodules(s) 658, as appropriate for the particular application. Theappliances to be controlled may include an IP enabled AV receiver 620,an IP enabled STB/DVR 610, TV 106, DVD player 108, and CD player 408. Asillustrated, certain of these devices may be interconnected via HDMI 112and/or Ethernet 670 interfaces. (In this regard, it should beappreciated that the illustrative interconnections 112 and 670 of FIG. 6are intended to depict logical topography only, and accordingly detailsof exact physical cabling structure and/or the presence of any necessaryswitches, routers, hubs, repeaters, interconnections, etc., are omittedfor the sake of clarity.)

The preferred method/protocol/medium for issuance of commands to theexemplary appliances of FIG. 6 may vary by both appliance and by thefunction to be performed. By way of example, volume control and analoginput selection commands 622 targeted to AV receiver 620 may be requiredto be issued via IR transmissions, while power on/off and HDMI inputselection functionality commands 624 may be better communicated via CECcommands and advanced functionality commands 626 such as sound fieldconfiguration may be best communicated via an Ethernet connection. In asimilar manner, the various operational functions of the otherappliances may best commanded via a mixture of mediums, methods, andprotocols, as illustrated. As will be appreciated, in some instances aparticular appliance may support receipt of an operational command viamore than one path, for example the power on/off function of AV receiver620 may be available not only as a CEC command, but also via an IRcommand. In such instances, the UCE preferred command format may be thatwhich has been determined to offer the greatest reliability, for examplein the above instance the CEC command may be preferred since this formof command is not dependent on line-of-sight and also permitsconfirmation that the action has been performed by the target appliance.

In order to determine the optimum method for each configured appliancetype and command, the exemplary UCE core program 650 may be provisionedwith a preferred command matrix 700, as illustrated in FIG. 7. Exemplarypreferred command matrix 700 may comprise a series of data cells orelements, e.g. cells 712, each corresponding to a specific command 702and a specific one of the appliances to be controlled 704. The datacontent of such a cell or element may comprise identification of a formof command/transmission to be used and a pointer to the required datavalue and formatting information for the specific command. By way ofexample, the data element 712 corresponding to the “Input 2” command 706for the configured TV appliance 708, may comprise an indicator that aCEC command is to be used, i.e., an indicator of the transmission devicethat is to be used to communicate the command to the intended targetappliance, together with a pointer to the appropriate command data valueand HDMI-CEC bus address; while data element 714 corresponding to thesame command function for the configured AV receiver 710 may comprise anindicator that an IR command is to be used, together with a pointer toappropriate command data and formatting information within an IR codelibrary stored elsewhere in UCE memory 502. In certain embodiments oneor more secondary command matrices 716 may also be provisioned, allowingfor the use of alternate command methods in the event it is determinedby the UCE programming that a preferred command was unsuccessful.Command matrix 700 may also contain null entries, for example 718, wherea particular function is not available on or not supported by a specificappliance. In an exemplary embodiment, command matrix 700 may be createdand loaded into the memory 502 of UCE 100 during an initialization andset-up process, as will now be described in further detail.

In order to perform initial configuration of a UCE device, a setupapplication may be provided. In some embodiments, such a set upapplication may take the form of programming to be executed on anyconvenient device with a suitable user interface and capable ofestablishing communication with the UCE, such as without limitation asmart phone, tablet computer, personal computer, set top box, TV, etc.,as appropriate for a particular embodiment. In other embodiments such aset up application may be incorporated into the UCE programming itself,utilizing for example a connected TV screen and an associatedcontrolling device as the user interface. Regardless of the exact formand location of the programming and user interface means, the series ofsteps which may be performed by a UCE set up application whenconfiguring a UCE device for operation with a specific set of appliancesremains similar. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the methodscomprising the illustrative UCE set up application presented below inconjunction with FIGS. 8 and 9 may be generally applied, mutatismutandis, to various alternative set up application embodiments.

With reference to FIG. 8, as known in the art a tablet computer such asthe exemplary device 202 of FIG. 2 may comprise, as needed for aparticular application, a processor 800 memory 802 which memory maycomprise a combination of ROM memory, RAM memory, and/or non-volatileread/write memory and may take the form of a chip, a hard disk, amagnetic disk, an optical disk, a memory stick, etc., or any combinationthereof. In some embodiments, provision may also be made for attachmentof external memory 804 which may take the form of an SD card, memorystick, or the like. Hardware provisioned as part of an exemplary tabletcomputer platform may include an LCD touchscreen 810 with associateddisplay driver 806 and touch interface 808; hard keys 812 such as forexample a power on/off key; a USB port 816; WiFi transceiver andinterface 818; a Bluetooth transceiver and interface 820; a camera 822;and various other features 824 as appropriate for a particularembodiment, for example an accelerometer, GPS, ambient light sensor,near field communicator; etc. The electronic components comprising theexemplary tablet computer device 202 may be powered by a battery-basedinternal power source 814, rechargeable for example via USB interface816.

Memory 802 may include executable instructions that are intended to beexecuted by the processor 800 to control the operation of the tabletcomputer device 202 and to implement various functionalities such as Webbrowsing, game playing, video streaming, etc. As is known in the art,programming comprising additional functionalities (referred to as“apps”) may be downloaded into tablet computer 202 via, for example,WiFi interface 818, USB 816, external memory 804, or any otherconvenient method. As discussed previously, one such app may comprise aremote control app, for example as that described in co-pending U.S.patent application Ser. No. 13/329,940 of like assignee and incorporatedherein by reference in its entirety, which app may be for use incommanding the operation of appliances 106, 108, 110 and/or 120 via UCEdevice 100. In order to initially configure UCE device 100 to match theappliances to be controlled and to establish an appropriate commandmatrix, tablet computer 202 may also be provisioned with a setup app214, either as part of a remote control app or as separatelydownloadable item.

With reference now to FIG. 9 such a setup app, upon being invoked atstep 902 may initially request that the user place all of the appliancesto be controlled into a known state, e.g., powered on, in order toenable the appliance detection and/or testing steps which follow. Next,at step 904 the setup app may determine the identity of those applianceswhich are CEC-enabled. This may be accomplished by communicating arequest to the associated UCE, which at step 906 which may cause the UCEprogramming to scan connected HDMI devices for appliances which areCEC-enabled and/or identifiable via interaction over the HDMI interface,for example as described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/198,072, of like assignee and incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety, and communicate such appliance identities to the setupapplication. Thereafter, at step 904 the setup application may determineif additional non-CEC appliances are connected to the UCE device via theHDMI interface. This may be accomplished by requesting the UCEprogramming to scan for any further HDMI connections at step 910 andcommunicate the findings back to the setup application. Though notillustrated, it will be appreciated that where appropriate for aparticular embodiment the UCE programming may conduct similar scans toin order to discover appliances connected via Ethernet, USB, Bluetooth,RF4CE, WiFi etc., where such interfaces may be provisioned to a UCE.

Thereafter, at step 912 the setup application may display a listing ofdetected appliances (both identified and not yet identified) to theuser. At step 914, the user may be prompted to enter applianceidentifying information for those HDMI or otherwise connected applianceswhich were detected but not identified, as well as identifyinginformation regarding any additional appliances which may form part ofthe system to be controlled but are not discoverable as described above(for example appliances such as AV receiver 120 or CD player 408 whichmay be responsive only to unidirectional IR commands). Withoutlimitation, such identifying information may take the form ofuser-entered data such as an appliance type, brand and model number, ora setup code from a listing in a user guide; or may take the form ofscanned or electronic information such as a digital picture of theappliance itself or of a bar code, QR code, or the like associated withappliance; near field acquisition of RFID tag data; etc.; or anycombination thereof as appropriate for a particular embodiment.

Once appropriate identifying information has been acquired, at step 916the setup app may communicate that information to a database server, forexample server 206, for performance of step 918, comprisingidentification of and retrieval of command codeset and capability datacorresponding to the identified appliances from a database 207, andprovision of this data to the setup application for processing andultimate transfer to the UCE device. As will be appreciated, thetransferred codeset data may comprise complete command data values andformatting information, may comprise pointers to command data values andformatting information already stored in the memories 502 and/or 802/804of the UCE or the device upon which the setup application is currentlyresident, or a combination thereof. Where necessary, for example whendatabase 207 may contain alternate codesets for an identified appliance,or where uncertainty exists regarding a particular appliance modelnumber, etc., at steps 920, 922, and 924 various control paradigmsand/or command data sets may be tested against the appliances to becontrolled. Such testing may take the form of soliciting user responseto effects observable commands, monitoring of HDMI interface statuschanges as described for example in U.S. patent application Ser. No.13/240,604, of like assignee and incorporated herein by reference in itsentirety, or any other method as convenient for a particularapplication. Once appropriate codesets have been fully determined, atsteps 926,928 and 930 a suitable preferred command matrix, for exampleas illustrated in FIG. 7, may be constructed and stored into the memory502 of exemplary UCE device 100, the matrix being constructed byconsidering the communication capabilities and functionalities of thedevices identified via the above-described processes.

In order to select the optimum command method for each function of eachconfigured appliance any suitable method may be utilized, for example asystem-wide prioritization of command media and methods by desirability(e.g. apply IP, CEC, IR in descending order); appliance-specific commandmaps by brand and/or model; function-specific preference and/or prioritymaps (e.g. all volume function commands via IR where available); etc.;or any combination thereof. The exact selection of command methodpriorities or mapping may take into account factors such connectionreliability, e.g. wired versus wireless, bidirectional versusunidirectional communication, etc.; speed of command transmission orexecution; internal priorities within an appliance, e.g. received IPreceived packets processed before CEC packets, etc.; type of protocolsupport (e.g. error correction versus error detection; ack/nak, etc.);or any other factors which may applied in order to achieve optimumperformance of a particular embodiment.

As will be appreciated, the construction of said preferred commandmatrix may be performed at the database server or within the setupapplication, or a combination thereof, depending on the particularembodiment. Once a preferred command matrix has been finalized andstored in the UCE device, at step 932 a series of desired applianceconfigurations associated with specific user activities may beconfigured and stored into the UCE device, as will be now be described.

Upon completion and storage of a preferred command matrix, an exemplarysetup application may subsequently guide a user through a series ofsteps in order to establish the desired appliance configurations for aseries of possible activities. With reference to FIG. 10, at step 1002,the user may be presented with a list of possible activities, e.g.,“Watch TV”, “Watch a movie”, “Listen to music”, etc. In someembodiments, the user may also be able to edit activity titles and/orcreate additional user defined activities. At step 1004 a user mayselect a particular activity for configuration, for example “Watch TV”.At step 1006, the user may be prompted to identify the content sourcefor the activity being configured, for example cable STB/DVR 110 for theexemplary “Watch TV” activity. Such a prompt may take the form of alisting of eligible appliances as determined during the foregoingappliance set up steps; explicit user entry of an appliance type; etc.Next, at steps 1008 the user may be prompted in a similar manner toselect video and audio rendering appliances for use in this activity,for example TV 106 and AVR receiver 120 respectively. Depending upon thesystem topography and the interfaces in use (i.e. HDMI/CEC, IP, analog,etc.) the set up application in concert with UCE programming may be ableto ascertain which input port of each rendering appliance is attached tothe content source appliance identified for this activity and/or if anyintermediate switching appliance is in use (for example AV receiver 420of the system illustrated in FIG. 4). Where such information isobtainable, the set up application may automatically create all or partof an appropriate rendering device input selection for the activitybeing configured. If not, at steps 1008 and 1010, the user may beadditionally requested to identify the applicable content route(s) tothe rendering appliances, e.g., input port numbers, presence ofintermediate switches, etc. During or upon conclusion of steps 1004through 1010, the set up application may construct an activity matrix,for example as illustrated in FIG. 11. By way of example, activitymatrix 1100 for a “Watch TV” activity may comprise a series of cells,for example 1110 or 1112, each corresponding to a desired configurationof a particular state 1106 or function 1108 of a specific appliance 1104during the specified activity. By way of example, cell 1110 may indicatethat the input of AV receiver 120 is to be set to “S/PDIF2”, while cells1112 and 1114 may indicate that transport function commands (e.g.,“play”, “pause”, “fast forward” etc.) are to be directed to STB/DVR 110and not to DVD 114. In this regard, it will be appreciated that while insome embodiments the assignment of functions such as, for example,volume control, to specific appliances during a particular activity maybe performed within an individual controlling device, i.e., thecontrolling device may determine the appliance to which volume controlcommands are to be directed, in a preferred embodiment this assignmentmay be performed within the UCE, thereby ensuring consistency acrosseach activity when multiple controlling devices are present in anenvironment, for example devices 102 and 104 of the environmentillustrated in FIG. 1.

Returning now to FIG. 10, at steps 1014 and 1016 the newly-constructedactivity matrix 1100 may be tested by causing the UCE programming,utilizing preferred command matrix 700, to issue the commands necessaryto place the identified appliances into the desired state and thereafterreceiving verification at step 1018 that the desired activity wassuccessfully initiated. It will be appreciated that such verificationmay comprise, for example, detection and reporting of HDMI or othercontent streams and/or appliance status by UCE programming by directlymonitoring CEC status or by using methods such as described for examplein U.S. patent application Ser. No. 13/240,604; solicitation of userinput confirming correct operation; monitoring for presence or absenceof analog input signals; recording of appliance status or errormessages; etc.; or any combination thereof as appropriate for aparticular embodiment.

If testing is unsuccessful, at step 1018 the set up application mayreturn to step 1002 to allow reconfiguration of that activity and/ordefinition of alternative activities. If testing was successful, atsteps 1020 and 1022 the completed activity matrix, for example 1100 asillustrated in FIG. 11, may be transferred to the UCE 100 for storage inUCE memory 502. Thereafter, at step 1024 the user may be offered theopportunity to return to step 1002 to define additional activityconfigurations, for example 1101,1102 as illustrated in FIG. 11, or toexit the activity configuration process.

With reference now to FIG. 13, the series of steps performed by the UCEprogramming in order to convey a function command to an appliance inaccordance with a command request 1300 received from a controllingdevice such as remote control 102 or 200, smart device 104 or 202, etc.,or in accordance with an internally generated requirement resulting fromreceipt of an activity request (as will be described hereafter) mayinitially comprise retrieval from a preferred command matrix that dataelement which corresponds to the requested command and target appliance.By way of specific example, receipt of a “TV power on” request fromremote control 102 or the like at a UEC provisioned with the preferredcommand matrices illustrated in FIG. 7 may cause retrieval of dataelement 720, indicating that the command is to be communicated to the TVappliance, e.g., television 106, using an HDMI CEC command. At step1304, the UCE programming may determine if the retrieved valueconstitutes a null element. If so, the referenced appliance does notsupport the requested command and accordingly at step 1314 an errormessage may be generated and the process thereafter terminated. As willbe appreciated, the exact nature of such an error message may dependupon the particular embodiment and/or the requesting controlling device:for example, if the request originated from a controlling device whichis in bidirectional communication with the UCE the error may becommunicated back to the requesting device for action, i.e., display tothe user, illuminate a LED, activate a buzzer, etc. as appropriate.Alternatively, in those embodiments where a UCE is incorporated into anappliance, that appliance's front panel display may be utilized.

If the retrieved preferred command matrix element data is valid, at step1306 the UCE may communicate the corresponding function command to thetarget appliance using the indicated command value and transmissionmethod, e.g., for the exemplary data element 720 this may compriseissuing a CEC “power on” command to CEC logical device address zero (TV)via the UCE HDMI interface 508. Once the command has been issued, atstep 1308 the UCE programming may determine if the communicationinterface and protocol used in issuing the command provides for anyconfirmation mechanism, i.e., explicit acknowledgement of receipt,monitoring of HDMI status on an interface, detection of a media streamor HDCP handshake, etc. If not, for example the command was issued usinga unidirectional IR signal and no other confirmation means such as poweror input signal monitoring is available, the UCE programming may simplyassume that the command was successful and processing is complete. Ifhowever confirmation means exists, at step 1310 the UCE programming maywait to determine if the command was successfully executed. Oncepositive confirmation is received, processing is complete. If noconfirmation or a negative confirmation is received, at step 1312 theUCE programming may determine if an alternative method is available tocommunicate the command to the target appliance. Returning to thespecific example presented above this may comprise accessing a secondarycommand matrix 716 in order to determine if an alternative communicationmethod is available for the specific function, e.g., “TV power on.” Ifan alternative does exist, at step 1316 the substitute command value andtransmission method may be retrieved and processing may return to step1306 to initiate an alternative attempt. Returning again to the specificexample, if the CEC “power on” command corresponding to data element 720of matrix 700 issued to TV 106 cannot be confirmed, an IR “power on”command encoded according to SIRCS (Sony Infrared Control System) incorrespondence with the equivalent data element in secondary matrix 716may be attempted as a substitute.

In addition to relaying individual command requests as described above,an exemplary UCE may also support activity selection, whereby receipt ofa single user request from a controlling device may cause a series ofcommands to be issued to various appliances in order to configure asystem appropriately for a particular user activity, such as forexample, watching television. To this end a set of matrices definingdesired equipment states suitable to various activities, for example asillustrated at 1100 through 1102 of FIG. 11, may be stored in UCE memory502 for access by UCE programming when executing such a request. Asillustrated in FIG. 12, in some embodiments the programming of anexemplary UCE may maintain an additional matrix 1200 representative ofthe current state of the controlled appliances, arranged for example byappliance 1202 and by operational state 1204. By way of example, dataelements 1206 and 1208 in the illustrative table 1200 may indicate thatTV 106 is currently powered on (1208) with HDMI port number 2 selectedas the input (1206). The data contents of the elements in such a tablemay be maintained in any convenient manner as appropriate to aparticular embodiment, for example without limitation retrieval ofHDMI/CEC status; monitoring input media streams and/or HDCP status;measuring power consumption; construction of a simulated appliance statesuch as described for example in U.S. Pat. No. 6,784,805; etc.; or anycombination thereof. In the case of certain appliances, such as forexample AV receiver 120 which may be controllable only viaunidirectional IR, the current state of the appliance may not bediscernible. In such cases, a null data element 1210 maybe entered intoexemplary matrix 1200 to indicate that this appliance may requireconfiguration using discrete commands only and/or user interaction. Aswill be appreciated, in some embodiments the data contents of theillustrative table may be maintained in memory 502 on an ongoing basisby UCE programming, while in other embodiments this data may be gathered“on the fly” at the time the activity request is being processed.Combinations of these methods may also be used, for example “on the fly”gathering for appliances connected via an HDMI bus combined withmaintenance of a simulated state for appliances controlled via IRsignals.

In order to configure a group of appliances for a desired activity, UCEprogramming may compare a desired state matrix, for example 1100, to acurrent state matrix, for example 1200, element by element, issuingcommands as necessary to bring appliances to the desired state. By wayof example, an exemplary series of steps which may be performed by theprogramming of a UCE in order to effect a “Watch TV” activityconfiguration will now be presented in conjunction with FIG. 14. For thepurposes of this example, the reader may also wish to reference theequipment configuration of FIG. 1 and the activity and current statematrices 1100 and 1200 of FIGS. 11 and 12.

Upon receipt of a “Watch TV” request 1400, at step 1402 the exemplaryUCE programming may access an applicable appliance state matrix 1100.Next, at step 1404 it may be determined by the UCE programming whetherthe present “power” state of TV 106 as indicated by current state matrix1200 matches the desired state stored in the corresponding data elementof matrix 1100. If the states match, processing may continue at step1408. If the states do not match, at step 1406 a “power on” command maybe communicated to TV 106. As will be appreciated from the earlierdiscussion in conjunction with FIG. 13 and inspection of exemplarypreferred command matrix 700, in the illustrative system communicationof the “power on” command to TV 106 may comprise a CEC command issuedover HDMI connection 112. Next, at step 1408 a “mute” command may becommunicated to TV 106, since element 1116 of illustrative matrix 1100indicates that TV 106 is not the primary audio rendering appliance. Inaccordance with preferred command matrix 700, communication of the“mute” command to TV 106 may comprise an IR transmission 114.Thereafter, at steps 1410,1412 the active input of TV 106 may be set to“HDMI1” via a CEC command, and at steps 1414,1416 a CEC “power on”command may be communicated to STB/DVR 110 if that appliance is notalready powered on. At step 1418, the exemplary UCE programming may setan internal status to indicate that future transport command requests(e.g., play, pause, FF, etc.) should be routed to STB/DVR 110, asindicated by element 1112 of matrix 1100. Thereafter, at steps 1420,1422a CEC “power off” command may be communicated to STB/DVR 108 if thatappliance is not already powered off. Thereafter, at steps 1424 and 1426“power on” and “input S/PDIF2” commands may be communicated to AVreceiver 120 via IR signals. As will be appreciated, it may not bepossible to determine the current status of AV receiver 120, asindicated for example by elements 1210 and 1220 of matrix 1200, andaccordingly so-called “discrete,” or explicit, function commands may beissued which may establish the desired status regardless of the currentstate of the appliance. Finally, at step 1428 the exemplary UCEprogramming may set an internal status to indicate that future volumecontrol command requests (e.g. volume up/down, mute) should be routed toAV receiver 120, as indicated by element 1118 of matrix 1100, whereafterprocessing of the activity request is complete.

* * *

While various concepts have been described in detail, it will beappreciated by those skilled in the art that various modifications andalternatives to those concepts could be developed in light of theoverall teachings of the disclosure. For example, in an alternateembodiment of UCE functionality, in place of a preferred command matrixsuch as illustrated in FIG. 7, the programming of an exemplary UCE mayutilize a command prioritization list, for example a prioritization list“IP, CEC, IR” may cause the UCE programming to first determine if therequested command can be issued using Internet Protocol, only if not,then determine if the requested command can be issued using a CECcommand over the HDMI interface, and only if not, then attempt to issuethe requested command via an infrared signal. Such a prioritizationreflects an exemplary preference of using bi-directional communicationprotocols over uni-directional communication protocols over line ofsight communication protocols, e.g., IR, when supported by the intendedtarget appliance.

Further, while described in the context of functional modules andillustrated using block diagram format, it is to be understood that,unless otherwise stated to the contrary, one or more of the describedfunctions and/or features may be integrated in a single physical deviceand/or a software module, or one or more functions and/or features maybe implemented in separate physical devices or software modules. It willalso be appreciated that a detailed discussion of the actualimplementation of each module is not necessary for an enablingunderstanding of the invention. Rather, the actual implementation ofsuch modules would be well within the routine skill of an engineer,given the disclosure herein of the attributes, functionality, andinter-relationship of the various functional modules in the system.Therefore, a person skilled in the art, applying ordinary skill, will beable to practice the invention set forth in the claims without undueexperimentation. It will be additionally appreciated that the particularconcepts disclosed are meant to be illustrative only and not limiting asto the scope of the invention which is to be given the full breadth ofthe appended claims and any equivalents thereof.

All patents cited within this document are hereby incorporated byreference in their entirety.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for controlling a functional operationof an intended target appliance, comprising: in response to a detectedpresence of the intended target appliance within a logical topography ofcontrollable appliances using an identity associated with the intendedtarget appliance to create a listing comprised of at least a firstcommunication method and a second communication method different thanthe first communication method for use in controlling each of at least afirst functional operation and a second functional operation of theintended target appliance; receiving by a Universal Control Engine arequest from a controlling device intended to cause the intended targetappliance to perform a one of the first and second functional operation;and causing the Universal Control Engine to respond to the request byusing a one of the first and second communication methods in the listingof communication methods that has been associated with the requested oneof the first and second functional operation to transmit to the intendedtarget appliance a command for controlling the requested one of thefirst and second functional operation of the intended target appliance.2. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising causing the UniversalControl Engine to respond to the request by using a highest prioritizedone of the first and second communication methods in the listing ofcommunication methods that has been associated with the requested one ofthe first and second functional operation to transmit to the intendedtarget appliance a command for controlling the requested one of thefirst and second functional operation of the intended target appliance.3. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising detecting by thecontrolling device the presence of the intended target appliance withinthe logical topography of controllable appliances.
 4. The method asrecited in claim 3, wherein a communication exchanged via use of aBluetooth communication protocol is used by the controlling device todetect the presence of the intended target appliance within the logicaltopography of controllable appliances.
 5. The method as recited in claim3, wherein the intended target appliance comprises an Internet Protocolcapable device.
 6. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising placingthe intended target appliance into a predetermined state to facilitatedetection of the intended target appliance within the logical topographyof controllable appliances.
 7. The method as recited in claim 1,comprising detecting by an appliance having the Universal Control Enginethe presence of the intended target appliance within the logicaltopography of controllable appliances.
 8. The method as recited in claim7, wherein a communication exchanged via use of a Bluetoothcommunication protocol is used by the appliance having the UniversalControl Engine to detect the presence of the intended target appliancewithin the logical topography of controllable appliances.
 9. The methodas recited in claim 7, wherein the intended target appliance comprisesan Internet Protocol capable device.
 10. The method as recited in claim1, comprising prompting a user to provide data indicative of theidentity associated with the intended target appliance in response to adetected presence of the intended target appliance within a logicaltopography of controllable appliances.
 11. The method as recited inclaim 2, comprising using at least one characteristic associated witheach of the plurality of communication methods in the listing toprioritize the first and second communication methods in the listing.12. The method as recited in claim 1, comprising interrogating theintended target appliance to determine which of a plurality ofcommunication methods are supported by the appliance for use inreceiving a command for controlling at least one of the first and secondfunctional operations and using results obtained from the interrogationto create the listing.
 13. The method as recited in claim 12, whereinthe Universal Control Engine performs the steps of interrogating theintended target appliance and using results obtained from theinterrogation to create the listing.
 14. The method as recited in claim1, comprising issuing a test communication for controlling at least oneof the first and second functional operations of the intended targetappliance using at least one test communication method and omitting theat least one test communication method from the listing of communicationmethods for use in controlling the at least one of the first and secondplurality of functional operations of the intended target appliance whenthe at least one test communication method fails to elicit a performanceby the intended target appliance of the at least one of the first andsecond functional operations.